Talk about young! And the worst haircut I “eva” had! My sister and I laughed about women’s obsession with hair and our worst haircuts the other day. “I happen to have a photo of mine” I quipped, it was a special occasion day too, that the hideous coif incurred. And I just so happened to be scanning old photos and happen to have proof of the terrible trim. It was August 13, 2001 the day Sam, 007, MacGyver-Bond, “The World’s Most Interesting Man” Captain of my heart and I, re-met.

Sam and I knew each other in high school. We actually met through a mutual friend on a play called 1984– Sandy Community Players. I was 2 years ahead of him in school and a ditzy drama queen. He was a star athlete and drama groupie/techie/actor. He hung around us thespians because his best friend’s brother was into drama. 1984 did not come to fruition but the connection was made. I don’t recall having great communication with him again (although I kept up with the social status at school {I always knew who the star athletes were, and he drove a 1955 Cadillac Hearse and was the sophomore student body president}) until we were both cast in the musical West Side Story. I have to relay to my students sometimes the choices I made for theatre (we suffer for our art) when they come to me with too many excuses as to why they have to miss rehearsals. I was told I had to choose between Varsity Football Cheerleader or the role of Anita in WSS. My kids will ask, “Which did you choose?” I retort, “Do I look like a professional cheerleader?” Anyway, Sam and I became much better friends in WSS, he was a jet, and I was a shark. His first stage kiss (if you can call it that, it was the near rape scene of Anita) was with me. That play united us and the entire cast like my current Romeo & Juliet is united. Not all plays are THAT special. We were in a few more productions together and grew closer but I graduated and we lost touch, until August 13, 2001 and the Class of 1981- 20 year class reunion (Neather of our classes, I was 1982 and Sam 1984). I went with my best friend Tina May 1981, and he went with another runner/thespian Rene Hess 1981 (whom we’re all still friends today thanks to Facebook) and to make an extended tale brief are still together today.

So here’s to the very first photo of Sam and I (save yearbook stuff I have yet to scan) (bad haircut and Black Leather Jeans {Zack stole the buckskin trousers from my costume closet and wore them in Shambala}), to the most recent snapshot. We have aged nearly ten years but we’ve grown. We’re older but wiser, what more can we ask for?